Captain of ship stuck off Hawaii relieved of duty

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) -- The commanding officer of a $1
billion warship that ran aground along the coast of Honolulu has
been relieved of duty, the Navy said Monday.

Rear Adm. Dixon R. Smith, commander of Naval Surface Group
Middle Pacific, relieved Capt. John Carroll of his duties pending
the results of an investigation into Thursday's incident. The Navy
on Monday freed the vessel, which had been stuck for more than
three days.

Carroll had taken command of the USS Port Royal in October.
Capt. John T. Lauer III, who is currently assigned to the staff of
Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, was temporarily assigned as the
guided missile cruiser's commanding officer.

The ship -- one of the Navy's most advanced -- ran aground when
it was offloading sailors, contractors and shipyard personnel late
Thursday. Efforts to refloat the vessel over the weekend were
unsuccessful.

The Port Royal was extracted from a rock and sand shoal about 2
a.m. Monday after officials removed about 500 tons of seawater and
100 tons of anchors and other equipment, the Navy said in a
statement. Officials said they plan to examine the wreck site to
determine if there was a fuel leak or spill.

After an initial assessment, the ship was being towed to Naval
Station Pearl Harbor for inspection. Dry docking at the shipyard
should be completed in approximately one week, officials said.

The Navy has not discussed what may have caused the
grounding.

The vessel had just finished its first day of sea trials after
wrapping up a four-month routine maintenance stay at Pearl Harbor
Naval Shipyard. The 15-year-old Port Royal usually has about 24
officers and 340 enlisted sailors on board.

The Pearl Harbor-based Port Royal is capable of firing
interceptors into space to shoot down missiles. It's also equipped
with Aegis ballistic missile tracking technology.